Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have agreed to build a new natural gas pipeline around the Caspian Sea, giving Russia significant control over Central Asia’s massive natural gas reserves.
The agreement ensures Russia’s supremacy over Turkmenistan’s gas and gives a major setback to US and European plans to send Central Asian natural gas exports directly to Europe.
Agreement is set to sign in September this year and Russian President assured that the deal would increase energy supplies to Europe. The sketch for the new pipeline will draw from the Turkmenistan, through Kazakhstan to Russia and Caspian shore pipeline will have capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year.
The deal represents a victory for Russia, which buys Turkmen gas at below-market prices, increasing Washington, Brussels and Beijing’s, woes, who have all been vying for direct access to Turkmenistan’s gas. U.S. officials have already criticized the growing Russian supremacy around the Caspian Sea oil sources as US Vice President Dick Cheney said new energy routes that bypass Russia as tools for intimidation and blackmail.
Russia is getting handsome business out of the deal as at present Russia pays only $100 per cubic meter of gas for Turkmenistan and then resells it to European customers for $250 per cubic meter and further improvements to existing gas pipelines will definitely add millions to Russian authority.
For two decades, Turkmenistan was facing isolation from the outer world but now country’s new leader Gurbanguli Berdymukhammedov shows a sign to improve its relation as he hinted to open the possibility to construct U.S.-supported pipeline, along with the prolonged under consideration pipeline projects to Iran, China, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
Image: jamestown
Via: BBC
